Entertainment: Ditch the clunky stereo and stream your music wirelessly at home

Soundscapes

By Cari Scribner/Life@Home

Gone are the days when having your favorite music at hand inside your home meant lugging around a battery-draining boom box or, more recently, plugging headphones into an iPod and tuning out the world around you.

Many of us still love our stereos, and you can still amplify music with oversized speakers, and they’ll generally look much better than the clunky, honeycomb-fronted versions of the ’80s. But today’s technology allows music to be streamed wirelessly around the home without clunky equipment and with plenty of other perks, too.

A breakthrough of epic proportion for music lovers, the dazzling array of in-home wireless audio systems eliminate the more annoying parts of listening to the radio: frequent commercials, poor sound quality, static and trouble tuning in to your favorite station. Wireless systems can stream any music into designated rooms of your home from a Mac, PC, smartphone, tablet, or even a control pad mounted on a wall of your home.

One of the newest systems, Sonos, is hailed for being simple to install (see sidebar). You can send music to two or more rooms, depending on the system you choose. Once installed, Sonos gives you access to literally millions of songs. You can listen to different music in each of the designated rooms in your home, or synchronize the rooms to the same tunes. You can also change the volume in each individual room from your iPhone, PC, or whatever you’ve set as your system control.

Damon Mletzko, manager of Hippo’s Home Entertainment in Albany, has seen a remarkable evolution in home technology. Whether customers are newbies to new-age technology or seasoned veterans, Mletzko starts at the beginning before suggesting the best streaming system for that consumer’s use.

“I ask what they like to listen to, and what they’re using now inside and outside of the home,” Mletzko says. “If people love their iPod or iPad, that’s something we can start with.”

Although it’s low-tech to log onto a free music site (see sidebar) and play music through a laptop, the resulting sound is not the best available. “Listening to music through a laptop is an option, but would you really get the impact of Beethoven’s 5th through a pair — or single in some cases — of one-inch speakers, possibly facing in the wrong direction?” Mletzko says.

Mletzko has Sonos, and likes to link it with Pandora (see sidebar) at his own home. “My daughter loves Disney Princess music, so she has a station that plays it for her and she’s happy,” Mletzko says.

Controlling your music around the house is easy as a finger swipe.

New home builders have recognized buyers’ interest in having wireless audio as part of the new home package. Hippo’s has contracts with area builders to install built-in wall touch panels during construction.

“It’s an investment in real estate,” Mletzko says. “A wireless streaming system allows you to have unlimited music access at the touch of your fingers without having to monopolize the family’s computer access. In addition, it gives you unlimited ability to upgrade the quality of your sound without buying a system for individual rooms, which saves money.”

As with any new foray, be prepared to ask questions, and don’t worry about needing a primer. “Our goal is to educate people without it becoming overwhelming,” Mletzko says.

Mickey Valletta, owner of Towne TV Audio and Appliance in Schenectady, sees more and more customers clamoring for wireless in-home music. “There’s no question that multi-room wireless music has gone mainstream; it’s not a luxury anymore,” Valletta says. “Everyone I sell a system to loves it. It’s intuitive, easy to use, and requires minimal follow up. Technology is making it easy for people to have their music where they want it, choosing exactly what they want.”

Yesterday’s home theaters — an impressive grouping of home entertainment equipment including a digital TV doubling as a stereo, speaker system, even a computer, prominently displayed on attractive cabinetry as a focal point of the family gathering space — have given way to the notion of “less is more.” Who wants to be confined to one place or one entertainment mode when you can move from room to room and enjoy music you’ve hand-selected?

“We sell wireless systems to people we sold home theaters to 10 years ago,” Valletta says. “People buy these systems because they’re not complicated, you can start small and build on it, and they’re easy to install.”

Music at your Fingertips

After connecting to the Internet via a laptop, iPad, iPod or other kind of smartphone, you’ll have access to literally millions of songs. Choose your own music by genre, artist or album. Systems also suggest new music that you might enjoy based on your existing preferences. Rest assured; these options are perfectly legal and don’t involve pirating music. Here’s a mini-breakdown about Pandora to give you an idea of how these music systems generally operate.

Pandora

Cost: free for basic use, nominal fee for ad-free music. How it works: Connect to the Internet, go to Pandora’s website and register in a few easy steps. Then create your own “stations” by entering an artist, song or composer on the screen. Pandora saves the station with the music you selected, and then suggests additional similar songs that you may then choose to add. You can create an unlimited number of stations and give them easily identifiable names. Site has an intuitive help menu to answer any questions along the way.

Sonos Multi-Room Wireless Music System: Founded in 2002, Sonos is a leading manufacturer of affordable, user-friendly wireless music systems. The Sonos3 Zone Player, a good starting point at around $400, includes three compact units to use in any three rooms of the house. Many people choose the kitchen, bedroom and living room. Setup simply requires connecting the Sonos to the Internet using your PC, Mac, or the free software that comes with the system to control music from your smartphone, tablet or computer. Many people like to use their iPhone because it’s portable. (Sonos also sells a wireless controller with charging cradle for about $400.) Then follow the directions on the screen to designate and label the rooms where you’ve placed the zone players, small wireless speakers that can be tucked on a shelf, etc. Once installed, use your iPhone to change music and volume, or turn it off entirely, in the rooms you’ve selected. You can upgrade by adding additional Sonos players to more rooms in the house

Other wireless audio systems, such as Universal Remote and Crestron, offer similar and more enhanced options, including lighting and temperature control from your smartphone, but prices are higher.